Where an end of a large steel pipe functions as a receptor having an end serving as a port for insertion of other objects such as, for example, a second pipe to be nestingly mounted within the bore of such receptor pipe, the end of the receptor pipe is advantageously outwardly flared. By outwardly flaring the end of such receptor or pipe, slight misalignments of the object to be inserted are accommodated, the outward flare effectively guiding the object into the bore of the receptor pipe.
Known and undesirably labor intensive means for flaring pipe ends include welding a short conical tube sections to pipe ends, and cold hammering or hot forge hammering the end of the pipe into a flare. Cold forming pipe flaring machinery is known to substantially overcome the undesirable labor intensive nature of flaring large pipes through hammering or through welded attachments. However, such machinery commonly ineffectively holds a pipe to be flared, fails to present any annular and flared “anvil” surface for effective flare forming, or fails to include a pipe flaring mandrel element which is capable of flaring a pipe in a radially balanced fashion.
The above noted drawbacks and deficiencies of commonly known methods and apparatus for flaring pipes are overcome by the instant inventive pipe flaring machine through its incorporation of a collet clamp having clamping shoes which are adapted to present and cumulatively form an annular and flared anvil surface; and further incorporating a pipe flaring mandrel comprising radially balanced, orbiting, and rotating conical rollers.